


Let me look after you, my love

by fortytworedvines



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Comfort, F/F, Fluff, sometimes the Doctor needs looking after
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 02:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16801450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortytworedvines/pseuds/fortytworedvines
Summary: After her adventures in the river, Yaz thinks the Doctor needs a bit of TLC. She's right.





	Let me look after you, my love

The Tardis parked itself neatly in an empty slice of space and as Yaz watched her, the Doctor shivered.

‘Not quite warm yet,’ she said with forced casualness as she saw Yaz’s glance. ‘Think I’d better have a nice hot bath, get some of the river water out of my hair.’

‘Can I get you anything? Hot chocolate?’

The Doctor smiled softly, ‘Sounds great, thanks Yaz.’ She vanished in the direction of her room and Yaz watched her go, biting her lip.

‘You all right, mate?’ Ryan asked.

Yaz shook herself, ‘Yeah. Fine. I’m gonna go make her that drink.’

The Tardis kitchen was kitted out with everything you could possibly want and several things you almost certainly never would. Yaz stuck a couple of mugs of milk in the microwave. She dug around in a cupboard till she found the chocolate powder, trying to switch off the refrain that had been constantly whirring in her brain since the Doctor had miraculously reappeared from the river. _You could have lost her,_ it chanted.

The microwave pinged and she grabbed the mugs, stirred in a decent quantity of chocolate. Marshmallows? Definitely felt like marshmallows were needed. She threw a handful on each mug, then set off carefully in the direction of the Doctor’s room.

She knocked on the door. ‘Doctor? I’ve got hot chocolate.’

‘Come in.’ The Doctor’s response wasn’t quite as chirpy as normal.

Yaz pushed the door carefully and walked in. She’d never been in the Doctor’s room before. It wasn’t exactly what she was expecting; singularly lacking in gadgets, a few books on a bookcase and a neatly made bed. Another door, slightly open, presumably led to the Doctor’s bathroom.

‘I’ll just leave it here,’ she said, bending down to place the drink by the door.

‘Come in? Please?’

‘Uhhh.’ Yaz’s brain stalled at the idea of seeing the Doctor in the bath.

There was a wry chuckle from the bathroom. ‘It’s okay, I have a lot of bubbles.’

Yaz inched around the door, hardly daring to look up.

‘Yaz?’

She finally raised her eyes, and saw the Doctor peering up at her from the deepest bath she’d ever seen. And covered with bubbles; there was in fact, no more skin visible than usual. Yaz sighed in relief.

‘Hot chocolate?’ The Doctor smiled and extended a foamy arm towards Yaz. Yaz passed her the mug carefully and turned to leave. ‘Stay?’ The Doctor asked quietly.

‘Okay.’ Yaz spotted a stool near the bath and lowered herself onto it.

‘Are you okay?’ The Doctor asked her.

Yaz almost smiled, ‘Don’t you think I should be asking that?’

‘Answer the question, Yaz.’ Yaz met the Doctor’s eyes, looking at her softly and almost sadly.

She stared down. ‘I… I mean, _we_ nearly lost you. When I realised that you were underwater and we couldn’t do anything...’ She blinked back tears. ‘I’ve always thought you could fix anything, but they nearly killed you.’

‘They didn’t, though. Yaz, look at me.’ Brown eyes met hazel. ‘I’m here, you’re here. We’re fine.’

The Doctor stretched out a bubble-covered hand to Yaz, who took it firmly, let her fingers cover the pulse point in her wrist to feel twin heartbeats, strong and steady.

‘Weren’t you scared?’ Yaz whispered.

‘I had a few tricks up my sleeve,’ the Doctor murmured, ‘I can’t say I enjoyed the experience though.’ Her grip tightened around Yaz’s fingers. ‘There’s so much muck in my hair. I want to feel _clean_.’

‘I’ll wash it for you.’ Yaz offered, ‘I mean, I used to do my sister’s when we were kids, so if you want, I mean…’ Her voice trailed off and she blushed.

‘Would you?’ The Doctor searched her eyes, ‘I’d like that.’

Yaz smiled and plonked her mug down on the floor. ‘Where do you keep your shampoo? You get your hair wet while I find it.’

‘Top left of the cupboard.’ The Doctor waved vaguely at the massive cupboard that stood opposite the bath, and Yaz turned hastily towards it as she leant back into the bubbles.

It was a big cupboard and Yaz was only little. She ended up having to climb up on to the first shelf, clinging precariously as she delved for the shampoo. When she eventually grasped it triumphantly, she turned around to see the Doctor, with wet hair plastered to her head, grinning at her.

‘Well done.’

‘Why’d you keep it so high up?’ Yaz asked as she scrambled down.

The Doctor shrugged, ‘Used to be taller, haven’t got round to rearranging. Now, how do you want me?’

Yaz’s brain short circuited for a moment. Then she got a hold of herself, ‘Just face away from me and tip your head back.’

The Doctor turned obediently, tilted her damp head back towards Yaz. Yaz took a breath, squirted a load of shampoo into her palms. ‘Here we go then.’ She knelt up, pressed against the edge of the bath to reach the Doctor. Gently, she rubbed her fingers into the Doctor’s scalp, making sure she covered every inch of her head in soap suds. She skirted the edge of her ears, moved her fingers firmly down the Doctor’s head to the nape of her neck. Then she gathered all of the Doctor’s hair in her hands, running it smoothly between her fingers.

The Doctor hummed, ‘You are _really_ good at this. I’m feeling all pampered.’

‘Nobody ever wash your hair before?’ Yaz murmured as she grabbed an empty glass to start rinsing the shampoo out. ‘I’ll rinse it and then give it another scrub, just to be on the safe side.’

‘Never really had enough hair to make it worth it. Two minutes and done.’

‘That would explain the terrible shampoo.’

‘What do you mean, terrible?’ The Doctor sounded as if she would be offended if she wasn’t so relaxed.

‘Two in one. You really want separate shampoo and conditioner, now you have such nice hair.’ Yaz bit her lip as the words came out.

‘You think I have nice hair? Really?’

‘It’s lovely.’ Yaz’s fingers reached a spot just behind the Doctor’s ears and almost swore that the Doctor purred. ‘Been wanting to do this for ages,’ she admitted softly.

‘Any time you want.’

‘Mmm. Second lot of shampoo now, okay?’

Yaz learnt quickly, and now she knew which spots could elicit unconscious sounds of pleasure from the Doctor. She rubbed her hair quickly once and then settled down to enjoy the experience. Before long, the Doctor was leaning right back against the edge of the bath. Yaz rose on her knees to risk a glance at her face, feeling a little burst of pleasure at the sight of the Doctor with her eyes closed, a blissful smile on her face. She kneaded and caressed until her fingers were aching, and then sighed.

‘I’ll rinse it out and then you’re all done. You need to move forward a bit or I’ll get water all over the floor.’ Before she could think what she was doing, she was placing her hands on the Doctor’s bare shoulders, helping her sit up. ‘Sorry,’ she said hastily as she removed them.

‘It’s okay, Yaz,’ the Doctor said, voice cracking slightly.

‘Okay. Here comes the water, then.’ She carefully rinsed out every last bubble of shampoo, until the Doctor’s hair was squeaky clean.

‘Done,’ she said regretfully.

The Doctor turned to face her. ‘Thank you,’ she said, meeting Yaz’s eyes with a look that made her blush. ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that cared for.’ Then she looked at her hands ruefully. ‘I’d better get out, I’m turning into a prune.’ And with that, she stood.

Yaz squeaked and turned away hastily before she caught more than a glimpse of pale skin. ‘Doctor!’ She grabbed the towel that was hanging on the door and thrust it behind her. It was removed gently from her grasp.

‘Sorry.’ There was a swishing noise. ‘All safe now.’ Yaz turned slowly to see the Doctor, encased from chest to knees in the towel, smiling at her ruefully. ‘Would you help me dry my hair?’

Yaz sighed. The Doctor was looking at her with _that_ look, the one she couldn’t resist. ‘Of course. You get dry, got a dressing gown?’

‘No. Should I have?’

Yaz grinned. ‘You can borrow mine. It’ll do for now, anyway.’

When she came back, the Doctor had changed into a long tshirt and was sitting curled up on her bed.

‘Here,’ Yaz said, handing it over. The Doctor pulled it on. ‘Very Arthur Dent,’ Yaz said with a laugh and picked up the towel from the floor where the Doctor had abandoned it. ‘Right, let’s get you sorted.’ She perched on the bed behind the Doctor and began rubbing her hair gently.

‘I met him once, you know. Douglas Adams,’ the Doctor said sleepily. ‘At a party. Very tall man. I like to think I inspired Ford Prefect.’

‘Zaphod, surely.’ Yaz teased.

‘Oi! Do I look like I have two heads?’

‘You’re much prettier than him I suppose. And you’ve got a better spaceship.’

‘Mmm.’

There was a silence while Yaz finished her job. She sighed inwardly as she ran the towel through the Doctor’s hair one last time. ‘There you go, nice and dry.’ She stood from the bed and the Doctor twisted round to look up at her.

‘Thanks Yaz.’ She smiled up softly, ‘I feel much better now.’ She reached up and took one of Yaz’s hands in her own and rubbed her thumb across her palm.

Yaz blushed, looked down to avoid the Doctor’s eyes, and noticed something she hadn’t earlier. ‘Doctor… what’s that?’ The sleeve of the dressing gown had fallen back to reveal a wide red mark around the Doctor’s wrist.

The Doctor dropped her arm and averted her gaze. ‘It’s nothing.’

Yaz sat down firmly in front of her. ‘Doctor.’

‘Just… just where they tied me up. But it’s fine; I’ve put healing balm on it and it’s virtually better already.’

Yaz’s heart was in her throat. ‘They _tied you up_.’

‘Before they ducked me. Yeah.’ The Doctor finally met her eyes, ‘It’s fine Yaz. Almost better. Promise.’ Her voice wavered.

‘It’s not fine.’ Yaz grabbed her hands, ran her fingers gently across the red marks that surrounded both wrists. ‘I shouldn’t have left you. I shouldn’t have let that happen to you.’

‘It wasn’t your fault. What if you’d stayed?’ The Doctor clasped Yaz’s hands firmly. ‘You couldn’t have fought them off. They’d have tied you up too. What if they’d ducked you first? I might not have been able to save you and do you think I could live with myself if I’d watched you drown? Bad enough watching Willa’s gran. But watching _you_. Yaz.’ The Doctor’s eyes were bright with tears.

Yaz’s self control broke and she leant forward, pulled the Doctor into her arms and held her tightly. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t help you,’ she whispered into the Doctor’s hair.

The Doctor’s arms went round her waist, and she felt the Doctor nuzzle into her neck. ‘I couldn’t bear to lose you,’ the Doctor said quietly.

Yaz pulled back slightly, still keeping a firm hold on the other woman. They stared at each other for a moment; the Doctor’s hand came up to stroke her cheek and Yaz’s eyes fluttered closed at the touch. ‘I never want to leave you,’ she admitted from the safety of the darkness.

‘Yaz,’ the Doctor murmured and Yaz opened her eyes.

The Doctor moved minutely closer. Yaz held her breath, her heart pounding. Soft lips touched her own and Yaz pulled her closer, winding one arm around her back and letting the other slip into soft hair. The Doctor didn’t stop kissing her and Yaz didn’t move away. For endless moments they kissed, entwined with each other.

Finally, short of breath, Yaz drew herself away. The Doctor was looking at her in the way she usually reserved for the mysteries of time and space and her heart leapt again.

‘Yaz, you amazing, brilliant, woman.’

Yaz laughed, reached up to run her fingers through the Doctor’s hair. ‘That’s you.’

‘Both of us, perhaps. What a team we make.’

‘I want to be more than a team.’

The Doctor scrunched her face thoughtfully. ‘Partners?’

Yaz took a deep breath. ‘What about girlfriends?’

‘Girlfriends,’ the Doctor considered. ‘I like that.’ She grinned, eyes glowing with happiness. ‘Come here then, Yaz, my girlfriend.’ She pulled Yaz back in close and Yaz moved willingly to kiss the Doctor for the second time, knowing there would be many more times to come.

**Author's Note:**

> The healing balm is mentioned in the Doctor Who novel Combat Magicks.
> 
> Arthur Dent, Zaphod and Ford are from Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. I like to think that Douglas Adams might have bumped into the Doctor at some point.


End file.
